Chapter 189: Mountain Spider
Bang!
A fist slammed into the bottom of the moving train with a tremendous crash.
Tsuchimiya Kagura panted slightly, her heart still racing as she stared at the dent the corpse fatman had left in the train.
Even the train itself had been dented—if it had been her body…
Swallowing hard, Kagura forced herself to stay focused and raised her sword toward the enemy.
Her strike missed, and the fatman slowly straightened, advancing toward her again.
Poisoned by what seemed like a paralyzing toxin, Kagura realized she couldn't fight him head-on for now. She was forced to clear the corpses behind her and retreat toward the rear of the train, trying to buy time to neutralize the toxin with her spiritual power.
At the same time, she tried calling Kanayama Yomi.
Beep…
After a few rings, the call connected.
"Kagura…"
Yomi's urgent voice came through the phone, accompanied by the growls of the corpses.
"Yomi, how's it going on your side?"
Hearing the corpses' roars, Kagura's heart sank.
"Situation?"
Kagura's question made Yomi pause slightly.
She glanced at the small girl hiding behind her, then at the countless corpses in front of her, and gave a wry smile.
"Sorry, I've run into a bit of trouble… There are a lot of enemies here."
The number of corpses had been small when she first passed through—where had all these extra ones come from?
"I'm the same over here…"
Continuing to retreat toward the rear, Kagura kept an eye on the massive approaching fatman while talking with Yomi, thinking about countermeasures.
"Don't worry. Even though there are more enemies, we can handle them with a bit of time. I've also contacted the squad leader to send reinforcements."
Although there were many corpses, they were only C-rank individually. By blocking the front door of the car and letting one or two in at a time, Yomi could gradually grind them down.
This was because Yomi needed to protect the girl behind her, which limited her options. If there were no one to protect, she could have used Ran Kuren's Roaring Wave.
Similarly, Yomi believed Kagura only needed to hold the rear door to conserve energy until reinforcements arrived.
"Not worried?"
Kagura flipped backward to avoid the fatman's sweeping attack, then cleared the remaining corpses in the last car and stared silently at the tightly shut rear door of the driver's cabin.
Without the fat corpse's threat, she could have fought through the corpses while breaking the cabin door.
But now…
"There's no choice but to fight!"
If she were in an open area without being poisoned, Kagura would have been confident in defeating the fat corpse easily.
But in the narrow train car, poisoned by the paralyzing gas, she had no choice but to confront the spirit head-on.
The fat corpse swung its massive arm toward her again, forcing Kagura to roll to the right to evade, but she collided with the train wall.
Ugh…
A fiery pain shot through her back, but she only grunted and quickly propelled herself, stepping on the fat corpse's arm to launch toward its head.
No matter the size, the weakness of any corpse was the spirit inside its head.
If she could destroy it…
Seeing her target within reach, Kagura swung her sword.
Just as she was about to strike the head, the fat corpse's arm shook suddenly.
Her feet slipped, and the sword merely scraped across the head, leaving a long scratch on its chest—completely ineffective!
Huff…
The fat corpse expelled a plume of purple smoke from its mouth.
Judging by the color alone, it was poisonous.
Kagura held her breath, waiting for another chance to strike.
Unexpectedly, after releasing the smoke, the fat corpse didn't attack further but slowly retreated.
"What's going on?"
Watching it back away, Kagura remained cautious and attempted to break the door of the cabin behind her.
Just as she broke it open, several sharp cylindrical limbs pierced through the ceiling above her, stabbing downward.
"B-rank… Mountain Spider…"
This was a spirit Kagura had seen Yomi fight before.
The moment it attacked, Kagura's mind flashed with information about the spirit.
The Mountain Spider had long, sharp legs for attack but moved very slowly.
How could it strike her inside a moving train?
Looking outside, Kagura saw the weak white glow of streetlights illuminating part of the spider…
Had the train stopped?
She stared at the motionless scenery, slightly dazed.
She hadn't even noticed when the train had stopped.
This meant her plan to reach Tokyo and, with her allies, eliminate all the corpses had fallen apart.
"I have to stop it from destroying the train…"
Looking at the spider through the broken train car, Kagura made up her mind.
Though it was night and she couldn't tell exactly where they were, she couldn't let an entire train full of corpses roam the Tokyo suburbs.
Using the gap the spider had previously broken, Kagura cut a hole large enough to climb through in the ceiling of the train car.
She leapt out and landed on top of the train, jumping toward the spider by the tracks.
Sensing her, the spider swung its thin limbs at her.
Kagura twisted her body in midair, slicing one limb with her blade and using it to launch toward the spider's head.
But the spider seemed to anticipate her attack. It raised its head and spat out white silk from its mouth.
Caught off guard, Kagura was wrapped in a massive white cocoon along with her weapon.
Then the spider lifted one of its limbs and, like hitting a tennis ball, flung Kagura away.
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